23,116,928 To 20,618,000: Households On Food Stamps Now Outnumber All Households In Northeast U.S.

A record 23,116,928 American households were enrolled in the federal government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—AKA food stamps—during the month of June, according to data released this month by the Department of Agriculture.

That outnumbers the 20,618,000 households that the Census Bureau estimated were in the entire Northeastern United States as of the second quarter of 2013.

According to the Census Bureau, the Northeast region includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. Thus, in June, the households receiving food stamps exceeded the total combined households in all of these states.

The 23,116,928 million households on food stamps in June also outnumbered the 15,030,000 home-owning households in the entire Western United States in the second quarter of the year and the 18,018,000 home-owning households in the entire Midwest.

The West, as delineated by the Census Bureau, includes Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii. So, the number of households taking food stamps in June outnumbered all of the home-owning households in all of these stated combined.

The Midwest includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. So, the number of households on food stamps in June also outnumbered all the home-owning households in this set of states.

(According to the Census Bureau, in the second quarter of 2013, there were 20,618,000 households in the Northeast United States, including 13,021 households that owned their residence and 7,597 that rented. In the Midwest, there were 25,944,000 households, including 18,108 that owned and 7,926,000 that rented. In the West, there 25,322,000 households, including 15,030,000 that owned and 10,293 that rented. And, in the South, there 42,794,000 households, including 28,475,000 that owned and 14,318,000 that rented.)

The record 23,116,928 households on food stamps in June also equaled 20.16 percent—or more than one-fifth–of all 114,663,000 households nationwide in the United States as of June, according to the Census Bureau. READ MORE